Even Now
by AquaTurquoise
Summary: After Miranda expresses her dismay over a rather stressful day, Roland takes it upon himself to resolve the problem and reconnect with his queen.


Even Now

Summary: After Miranda expresses her dismay over a rather stressful day, Roland takes it upon himself to resolve the problem and reconnect with his queen.

Disclaimer: I don't own _Sofia the First_.

A/N: Okay, this is a first for me! Queenofpearls16 kindly requested a story between her favorites: Miranda and Roland. Granted, this pairing is familiar to me, but I've not written anything for them, as most of you know how I've stated that I'm bad at romantic situations. Still, I figured that I'd honor her request and give it a shot. So…yes, it will have the "AquaTurquoise" twist. Haha. :) I hope you all enjoy, and Queenofpearls16, I hope this story pleases you. Off we go! (Fair warning: this is so sugary that it should be a cookie with sprinkles or something…seriously. Lol. Also, I'm not a parent, so forgive me if the "parenting skills" in this story are lacking. :p I tried. :D)

*Story*

"Queen Miranda, look out!"

"Huh?" The queen was caught off guard when she was quickly shoved out of the way just as one of the curtains along with its metallic rod collapsed onto the floor. She looked up at Baileywick in surprise as he released her. "Baileywick, you probably just saved my life!" She glanced down at the curtain, a confused frown etched on her face. "What happened?"

"I believe the rod simply came loose from its holding; however, that's going to be something I'll have the staff take a look at. I apologize, Your Majesty."

"Oh, nonsense, Baileywick… It could have happened to anyone." She laughed softly. "I'm just grateful to _you_. Thanks for having more common sense than me and pushing me out of the way."

He chuckled. "Of course." He turned and addressed a few of the workers. "Please get a ladder and some tools. We have some safety precautions to take before we change out the curtains."

Miranda sighed and walked out of the ballroom. She had been attempting to make some updates for the changing seasons before the curtain incident. Come to think of it, things like that had been happening all day. That morning, she'd made herself some pancakes yet managed to burn them to cinders before Chef Andre had taken the liberty of fixing her some proper ones. After that when she had visited Cedric to drop off a parcel to him, she'd accidentally tripped over his chair and twisted her ankle. The sorcerer had nervously attended to her as best as he could and given her a potion to help with the pain and injury. Luckily, it had worked. She thanked him and apologized for her strange bout of clumsiness before leaving.

Next, her order of invitations to the twins' upcoming birthday party arrived, and she went over them to see how they had turned out. To her horror, whoever had designed them had spelled _both_ children's names wrong. How anyone could pen "Ombre" and "Jimes" was beyond her. In her frustration, she'd spilled her tea and ruined a new dress Roland had just had designed for her. After changing and sending off the dress in hopes that someone could rectify the problem, she'd then ventured into the ballroom to deal with the curtain issue, which obviously hadn't ended too well either.

With Roland gone for a meeting that day, it was her responsibility to see that things were relatively under control. As far as Miranda was concerned after the disastrous day she'd had, the king would have been better off asking Baileywick to take her place. And now here she was, wondering what fresh torment she'd encounter next.

"Hey, Mom, check it out!"

Miranda turned just in time to see James waving some sort of device around and grinning excitedly. "James, what are you-?"

"Zandar helped me make it. Watch!" He pushed a button on top of his device, and out of a chamber at the end came a stream of what appeared to be paint, which splattered all over the walls of the hallway. "…Oops. It was supposed to be confetti… Heh, heh."

The queen's eyes widened as she stared at the walls in dismay. "James…"

"I—I can fix it!"

"No, _I_ can fix it. You're grounded." She gave him a firm stare. "Give me the toy and go to your room."

"But Mom, I—"

"Now!" She sighed as he handed her the toy and trudged off to his room with a dejected look on his face. She huffed in frustration and made her way into the ballroom yet again, walking up to Baileywick.

"Queen Miranda, are you all right?" the steward asked in concern. "You look rather flushed."

"Baileywick, can you put this somewhere safe please? Oh, and…get someone to clean the _paint_ off the hall walls please?"

The older man sighed in realization. "Prince James?"

"He's grounded. Don't worry." With that, she turned and left.

Baileywick blinked. Miranda rarely grounded any of the children. Disciplined? Sure. Spoke to them patiently? Certainly. But he trusted her judgment and supposed she had her reasons for her decision. With that, he headed off to find somewhere to put the toy.

When Roland arrived home a few hours later, he was pleased to see that the castle was in tip-top shape. Changes had been made to accommodate the summer season, and there even seemed to be a bit of music echoing throughout the halls. He mused to himself that Baileywick had likely summoned some of the musicians he was friends with to keep the staff's spirits lively as they worked. Who could blame them? It was a large castle, and with such vast amounts of space came a lot of work to do.

He greeted the staff before heading off toward his room to relax. When he arrived, he was surprised to see Miranda in her nightclothes, lying on their bed with her arm draped over her eyes. "Miranda, are you okay?" Hearing nothing, he walked over and sat down beside her. "Miranda? What's wrong?"

"Can we just pretend like today never happened?" she asked pitifully as she lowered her arm and looked at him tiredly. "I mean, I want to scratch today from existence. Start over. Do something productive, but this has got to be one of the worst days I've ever had. _Everything_ has gone wrong, Rollie, and I don't know how much more I can take."

He smiled patiently and gestured for her to scoot over, which she did. He then sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her so she could rest against him. "Want to talk about it?"

The queen released a sigh. "Burned pancakes, twisted ankle, botched birthday invitations, ruined dress, fallen curtains, messily painted walls, grounded son, and possibly jinxed wife. Any more questions?"

Roland blinked. "Wow, you _have_ had a bad day…" He gently played with her hair as she nodded and sighed. He smiled. "Tell you what. It's not that late right now, so I have just what you need after this stressful day."

She looked up toward him with tired eyes. "What's that?"

He kissed her forehead gently. "Get dressed and meet me outside near the fountains." That said, he left.

Miranda pondered what he could be up to before shrugging it off and getting dressed. Close to half an hour later, she finally made her way outside. The sky was already dark with little pinpoints of stars glowing through the darkness. She smiled a little bit at this. At least nature had a way of being calming and inviting, even if the rest of the day and its activities hadn't.

The queen approached the fountains and smiled in realization as she saw Roland. He had a white blanket spread on the ground in front of the cascading water. Upon the blanket was a basket filled with all sorts of foods and a bottle of sparkling cider. "Roland, what is all this?"

"Your destress-from-your-bad-day picnic," he responded proudly as he held out his hand, helping her to sit down with him. "Baileywick and some of the servants helped put this together, so don't go thinking I'm a picnic genius." He grinned as she laughed. "Although I'd gladly take the title. Don't get me wrong." He placed a plate in front of her and loaded it with all sorts of food, including some greens, some meat, and a piece of toasted bread. He then poured some cider for her before doing the same for himself.

"Roland, you didn't have to go through all this trouble…" She smiled as she picked up a fork. "But I'm grateful you did."

"Miranda, let me tell you something, and I want you to listen." He grabbed two cloth napkins and handed one to her before draping the other over his lap. "You're a strong woman. Even now after our years together, you still manage to surprise me with just how resilient you can be. In my eyes, you're a lot like a diamond."

She lifted one eyebrow. High praise indeed!

"Diamonds are beautiful and are even considered the toughest of all gems in the world. However, even the most beautiful diamonds have flaws and imperfections." He gave her a calm smile as she sighed. "No one ever said you had to be perfect, Miranda. We all have our bad days, even you. However, just because one day is filled with disappointment or problems doesn't mean you should just forget it ever happened. Be grateful it did—that way, you can learn from it and be excited for the possibility that things can and _will_ be better than today."

Miranda finally smiled at his analogy and leaned forward, kissing him gently. "Thank you, Roland."

"Hmm."

"A diamond, huh?" She grinned as he smiled sheepishly.

"Hey, sometimes I _can_ think fast on my feet…well, so to speak." He laughed before raising his glass of cider. "To us?"

The queen smiled and nodded before clinging her glass with his. "To us."

That evening before bed, Miranda bid each of the children goodnight before stopping James to speak with him privately.

"Mom?" the boy asked curiously and somewhat nervously. He was used to getting into trouble every now and then, but he'd been a bit surprised at the impatience and irritation he'd seen from his step-mother that afternoon.

"James, I'm sorry for overreacting. No, you shouldn't have sprayed paint all over the wall, even if you had the wrong…material in your gadget you were trying to show me. But I know you didn't do it on purpose." She smiled gently at him. "So you're no longer grounded."

He grinned excitedly. "Really?!"

"Yes, but do me a favor, please. Baileywick told me earlier that Cedric has something that can remove the paint spatters from the wall. Help him do that tomorrow, would you?"

"Sure! Sofia always gets to use one of his wands or potions to help him. Now I'll get to try it." He paused and sighed. "And I'm sorry too. I didn't mean for that to happen. It won't happen again—well, honestly, it probably _will_ , but I'll try _not_ to let it happen again. Really."

Miranda laughed. "Sounds good." She hugged him. "Good night, James. Sleep well."

"Night, Mom!" With that, he took off down the hallway toward his room.

She smiled fondly before turning as she felt a tap on her shoulder. Her smile grew as she saw Roland standing behind her. "You heard?"

"I did," he admitted with a grin. "See, a terrible day isn't ending so badly for you. And what do you say to a family day out tomorrow?" He pulled her in for a hug.

"Mm, sounds good. Thank you, Roland, for everything." She kissed him once again.

"Any time."

The end


End file.
